Direct MALDI mass spectrometry of algae, cyanobacteria, and diatom cell

The global carbon cycle is affected extensively by the uptake of CO2 by oceanic photosynthetic organisms like algae, cyanobacteria, and diatoms; however, there is little information concerning which individual species and hence which chlorophylls are involved in this part of the cycle. MALDI mass spectrometry offers a new and highly sensitive method for investigating these organisms and provides the potential for highly sensitive pigment-species correlations (in theory allowing analysis of the chlorophylls in a single cell.)